Spring retarding-arm for corn-binding machines.



No. 672,2l2. Patented Apr. l6, l90l. B. m. HAZELL.

SPRING RETARDING ARM FUR CORN BINDINGMACHINES.

(Application filed Apr. 1, 1898.)

(No Moduli) 2 Sheets-Sheei a fi E J E a l.

m: uonms PETERS co. PHOYO-L|YHO.. WASNINGTON, u. c.

Patented Apr. is, 90l. B. m. HAZELL.

SPRiNG B'ETARDING ARM FOR CORN BINDING MACHINES.

(No Model.)

(Application filed. Apr. 1, 1898.)

' 2 Sheets-Sheef 2.

INVENTOR WITNESSES:

0%? ATTORNEYS m: NORRIS PETERS co.. Pnoraumm. wnsnmcmm. n. a.

UNITED STATES I l l lie BENJAMIN M. I-IAZELL, OF MILLINGTON, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE MCCORMICK HARVESTING MACHINE COMPANY.

SPRING RETARDlNG-ARM FOR CORN- BlNDlNG MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 672,212, dated April 1 6, 1901.

Application filed April 1, 1898- Serial No. 676,096. Lllo model.)

To (ti/Z whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN M. HAZELL, acitizen of the United States, residing at Millinglon, in the county of Kent and State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Spring Retarding-Arms for Corn-Binding Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in machines for binding corn, and more especially to those machines which bind the corn while it still stands on end; and the object of my improvement is to retard the tops of the corn in a plane above that of the compressor, so that the tops will be yieldingly held until the butts can be brought intothe same vertical plane with them, and thus form an upright bundle of closely-compacted stalks, and when the bundle has been encircled by a band and is ready to be discharged shall, by the force of the discharging mechanism acting against the bundle, be swung out of the path of the outgoing bundle and when the bundle has passed beyond the end of the retarding-arm shall automatically return to position'to retard the top of the oncoming stream. I obtain this object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a top View of so much of a selfbinding corn-harvester as is necessary to show my improvement, which is attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a side view of the entire machine; and Fig. 3 is a top view of the rear end thereof, showing the needle, the trip and compressor, and the ejectors in plan.

The Wheels A are shown in dotted lines and unconnected to the machine; but it is understood that they are to be connected in the usual well-known way in machines of the Peck type and that the larger one is to give motion to the operative parts of the machine. It is to be understood that a row of corn is to pass between the gathering-prongs B to be severed and carried back into the machine by the upper and lower forwarding-chains K K and L, where it is to be supported on a table carried by the sills C until a suflicient quantity of stalks has been accumulated to form a bundle, when a trip and compressor IE will be actuated and the binder mechanism D J started in motion to encircle the bundle with a cord and tie and discharge the bundle from the machine by the ejector-s D. In machines of the Peck type, which bind the corn While still standing on end, there has for several years been much experimenting to overcome the difficulty of the first few stalks of tall corn that pass into the machine bending over the compressor, and thus actuating the trip before a bundle had accumulated, or if not resting against the trip with suliicient force to start the binder into motion the butts would prevent the butts of the oncoming stream from being brought onto the bindingfloor, and a straggly bundle would be formed with an uneven butt. Various devices have been patented to remedy this difliculty. Most of these devices, however, have been rigid mechanisms that operated unyieldingly in fixed paths. They would with an arm that extended across the corn passage-way hold the tops of the oncoming stream of corn and get out of the way when the bundle was be ing discharged; but if the tops were intertwined and held back somewhat in the discharge movement these arms would move back into the corn passage-way before the intertwined stalks had gotten out of the way and hold the bundle from being discharged. At other times they would not return quickly enough and some of the oncoming stream of corn would pass beyond them. I am aware that there are spring retaining-arms on grainbinders under which the grain is forced to the compressor and that these arms support the bundle and hold it from being jolted about as the machine passes over the ground. I am also aware that the so-oallec drop-tables at the lower end of the decks of grainbinders have been held in position by aspring and that they have been pushed out of the way as the bundle was being discharged by the discharge-arms. My invention, however, differs from these. It consists of an arm E, that is pivoted to the rear part of the outside gathering-prong. Attention is called to the fact that in the drawings it is pivoted to a rod F, which is an extension of the outside gathering-prong, the inside gathering-prong being denoted by F. This rod, however, is the same as though the prong were continued outwardly. Attention is called to the fact that the pivot of the arm E is in a vertical plane that is toward the discharge side of the machine from the outer prong and that, together with the curved rod F, it forms a receptacle. The first stalks of corn that enter the corn passage-way tend to slide along the rod F and are obstructed by the arm E near its pivot. The forwarding mechanisms I at the bottom of the machine bring up the butts and the stalks are held vertically. As the bundle accumulates the stalks that were first received tend to hold the other stalks, and the outer end of the arm E, which because of its distance from the pivot would have less effect in holding the tops of the corn, is not called upon to stand the supporting stress that is thrown upon the inner end of the arm.

A spring G is attached to the extended end of the arm E and to the rod F in such a position as to exert its greatest resistance to the swinging of the arm E on its pivot on the first movement of the arm E. As the arm is, however, thrown open more and more the resistance of the spring, owing to the shorter leverage, becomes less and less, even though it is stretched more and more. A shield H (shown in dotted lines) is attached to the rear end of the outer prong and extends rear- Wardly over the rod F, the inner end of the arm E, and the spring G and serves to keep drooping ears of corn on the stalks from falling behind the outer end of the arm E,- and thus preventing its opening.

That my invention may be clearly distinguishable from the spring retarding-arms on grain-binders I call attention to the fact that the grain passes beneath the spring retainingarms and is forced thereunder by the packers. These retarding-arms are pivoted on the knotter side of the grain passageway, while in my construction the packers do not carry the stalks of corn beyond the retardingarm and the retarding-arm is pivoted on the opposite side of the passage-way. The present grain-binder no longer contains the socalled drop-table. The drop-table was positioned at the lower end of the deck beyond the position occupied by the bundle while being formed and was largely for the purpose of holding any scatterings that might accumulate during the formation of a bundle. It was always pivoted to the deck in the same plane as the deck or in a plane below it, and it extended the entire length of the binder.

In my construction the retaining-arm is a finger pivoted to the guiding-prong at the heads of the corn and in a plane that is toward the discharge side of the machine or in the opposite direction from the plane in which the hinged board on grain-binders was pivoted.

Having now described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is In a corn-binder, the combination of the passage-way, in which the corn is confined and through which it is carried and supported on end, the binder, the butts-forwarding mechanism located below the plane of the needle and compressors, and a tops-retarder extending normally across the passage-way above the plane of the needle and compressors, and operating to keep said passage-way closed,'said retarder consisting of a finger pivoted on the opposite side of the passageway from the knotter, and provided with a spring to allow it to yield and permit the tops of the bound bundle to pass out of the passage-Way, and operating to automatically and quickly return the finger, so as to catch by their tops only and retard with a yielding resistance the further movement of anyinclined stalks that may pass to the place of binding in advance of the bulk of the bundle and tend to prematurely trip the compressors.

BENJAMIN M. HAZELL.

Witnesses:

WM. B. UsIL'rON, CHAS. M. LUCES. 

